Articles of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

摘要

The mountain pine beetle and its specific fungal associates have become the most destructive pine pests in northwestern America. Grosmannia clavigera is one of most pathogenic fungal associates. It has developed multiple mechanisms for overcoming monoterpenes, the major pine defense chemicals. Extending work that identified an ABC transporter that removes monoterpenes from fungal cells, Wang et al. (p. 45664576) show that G. clavigera can grow with high concentrations of monoterpenes and identify the complex metabolic pathways by which the fungus modifies or utilizes the monoterpene limonene as a carbon source. This work highlights key interactions between an economically important fungal forest pathogen and its host's defense chemicals.The actively venting Sisters Peak chimney on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge holds the current temperature record for the hottest-ever-measured hydrothermal fluids (400C, with sudden bursts reaching 464C). Perner and colleagues (p. 45854598) provide a metagenomics-based analysis of the microbial community in the Sisters Peak chimney, revealing considerable differences from other hydrothermal vents and subsurface samples. Relating taxonomy and functions of predicted genes demonstrated potential thermal adaptations of specific microbial groups, which may be explained by different thermal conditions in different regions of the chimney.